CPChem supports Maker Faire

Tribune News NetworkDohaAMERICAN School of Doha (ASD) holds its first annual Maker Faire and recognises Chevron Phillips Chemical Company for its financial contribution to make this possible.Held recently, the ASD's first annual Maker Faire was a tremendous success with hundreds of students and their families attending from all divisions of the school. Kids and adults spent the afternoon at the Faire making, creating, learning and having fun. A wide variety of activities were offered to teachers, students, parents and community members. ASD and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company (CPChem) share a long partnership history, with the company's continued financial support in the areas of sustainability and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).The company's most recent donation to ASD has helped enhance the areas of robotics and STEM school wide. The support CPChem has provided ASD for the Maker Faire event, and for the Maker Space and robotics programs, has made a huge impact on the innovation and STEM approach to education over the past years. The partnership has inspired ASD to strengthen how it can motivate more students and continue to find ways to promote creativity, innovation, engineering and mathematical thinking across the entire school. The Lower Elementary School has also been able to incorporate more STEM experiences into their program for children aged four to seven. With the addition of the Lego Wedo robotics, iPads, Lego Boost robotics, Little Bits and Dash and Dot robots, students participate in robotics challenges during school and after school with the support of Chevron Phillips. Furthermore, ASD is able to increase enrolment in after-school robotics clubs by doubling the number of days it runs after school activities. The aim is to create more programs in the future; roughly 144 student spots should be available next year in robotics.Evidence of this learning was displayed at the Maker Faire, where even the younger children were able to present their work and enjoyed sharing their learning with the community. "On behalf of all the families and staff here at the ASD who benefitted from the support of the inaugural Maker Faire@ASD, I extend a sincere thank you," expressed Dr Tom Hawkins, director of ASD."The support of this initiative meant that our staff was able to secure great 'maker' kits, robotic equipment and design materials for use by the students and parents at the fair. Students were able to build, make, design and create in a fun and engaging atmosphere."